Roastin' Mallows...

How many guys does it take to build a fire? Three. And even with fire starter they couldn't do it. They blamed it on the wood.

I went up the canyon Saturday night with Jason, Tyler and Marc (talk about good odds!). Apparently, it was a GNO (Guys Night Out) + one. I told them I was happy to be one of the guys, but they wouldn't hear of it. So, I got to be the "plus one".

We spent an hour or so up there roasting mallows and building ourselves some smores (after the 30 minutes of trying to get the fire going). More people did eventually begin to show up and we had a great time sitting around the fire and socializing (and making fun of Jason wrapped in his giant purple blanket). But the fun wasn't able to last all night because the campgrounds aren't open for the summer yet and we were technically trespassing (which, we learned, is a $150 fine). The ranger came by around 8pm and booted us out.

But that didn't deter us. We packed up and headed back down the canyon to Marc's house where we built another fire and sat around and socialized until late into the evening.

All I wanted was a couple pictures with my friends and this is what I got:



But this is also the reason why I love them so much! They can always make me laugh!

Look for the Silver Lining...

Crash. That's about what I did last night when I passed a sign that said:

$3.86

That was the price for middle grade gas out by my parents house. When I filled my car up at that station two nights ago, it was $3.76. In less than 48 hours, gas jumped 10 cents! I wanted to croak. But then, when I was driving back to my house, I saw a sign that said:

$3.95

That was at the station kiddy-corner from my house. Two day prior, it was $3.81. So in less than 48 hours, that gas jumped 14 cents!

How economical is it for me to drive around the valley looking for the cheapest gas? Probably not very. But I am having a really hard time even forcing myself to pay $3.95 for gas!

I'm just going to say that I really miss these days:

And these days:

Heck, I even miss these days:

If you've ever seen Dan in Real Life, you may remember the scene where he's filling the car up with gas. As he's watching the total cost go up and up, he says:

"There goes Jane's college education, there goes Kara's"... The youngest daughter, watching from the car says "What about mine?" and he says, "Ah, you're good. Ah. Nope. Wait...there it goes!"

I'm sure we all feel that way and at times I get so frustrated with how much of my money is simply wasted on gas. I have no idea why we can't get control over this situation. What is wrong with our government?

But then I realized something. There are still people who are a lot worse off than me. I may not like forcing myself to pay $3.95 for gas, but regardless or whether or not I want to pay it, at least I know that I can afford to pay it. Sure, it may set me back a little and I may have to cut other stuff out of my budget (like books and DVD's), but I am no worse off.

I am lucky. I am lucky that I can afford to fill up my little 4-cylinder manual transmission car that (on last fill-up) gets 37 miles to the gallon. Some people can't even afford to drive anymore, or they can only afford to put $4.00 of gas in their car hoping to just make it home from their $8.00 an hour job.

I may hate the price of gas these days, but I need to remember to keep looking for that silver lining. I may never be able to afford a house, but I can keep my car running. At least for now.